Ephesians 3:7-13 | “The Crucial Role of Mom and Church”

The Crucial Role of Mom

One of the most basic facts of our existence is that we wouldn’t be here today without our mothers.  We should therefore be grateful to God for them, because without them we literally wouldn’t be here. 

Did you know that there are two billion moms in the world?  The average speed that moms change a diaper is two minutes and five seconds.  For dads, it’s one minute and thirty six seconds.  For moms, that adds up to three 40-hour work weeks each year!  The first Mother’s Day was May 10, 1908.  It was made a national holiday in 1914 by President Woodrow Wilson.  68% of people plan to call mom on Mother’s Day.  If you’re part of the 32% who don’t plan to call your mom today, come see me after the service.

We all have different experiences with, and some without, our mothers.  But we’d probably all agree that having a good mother is crucial for the growth and development and happiness and holiness of children.  Godly mothers are a crucial part of God’s plan for a healthy and happy home.  I can say with absolute certainty that I would not be who I am today apart from my mom. 

The Crucial Role of the Church

Just as mom’s have a crucial role to play in God’s plan for the home, so also the church has a crucial role to play in God’s plan for the universe.  How do you view the role of the church in relation to God’s plan?  What word would you use to describe the role of the church in God’s plan?  I wonder if anyone thought of the word “essential,” “central,” “indispensable,” or “fundamental” to describe the role of the church in God’s plan? 

Many think of the church as optional, outdated, unnecessary, or irrelevant for their lives.  But in our text this morning, we’re going to see that the church occupies a central role in God’s plan for the world.  The church isn’t an ancillary, or secondary, part of God’s plan.  It’s right in the middle of his plan.  The church is the main stage where God’s plans and purposes for the universe are performed.  God’s plan is to reveal his glory through the church.  His will is to make his character known in the world and in the heavenly places through the church.

We’ve learned over the last few weeks that the mystery that God revealed to Paul and the apostles was that, through the church, God is building a house where his holy presence dwells.  In the church, God is doing something unlike he’s ever done before.  He’s calling people into relationship with him and relationship with one another without requiring us to jump through the hurdles of the law but rather through trusting in his Son.

  

Through the church, God is revealing himself to the world.  The church is his way of showing the world what his Son Jesus and his gospel looks like.  Pastor Mark Dever says, “Take away the church and you take away the visible manifestation of the gospel in the world…(In the church) the world will witness the reign of God begun in a community of people made in his image and reborn by his Spirit.”  In other words, the church is meant to be a picture of heaven on earth.  It’s meant to display what life with God and God’s people in God’s kingdom looks like.  Dever continues, “Christians, not just as individuals but as God’s people bound together in churches, are the clearest picture the world sees of who God is and what his will is for them.”

We may minimize the importance of the church, but God doesn’t.  We may downplay its role, but God makes it clear that the church stands in the center of what he’s doing in the world.  In our text this morning, we’re going to see that the church – just like moms, has a central role to play in God’s plans and purposes (3:7-13). 

Grace from God to Preach the Gospel of God

We can summarize these verses like this: Paul was given grace from God to preach the gospel of God in order to reveal the wisdom of God through the church of God, thus fulfilling the eternal purpose of God in Jesus the Son of God who provides people access by faith into the presence of God.  Let’s look at this summary one phrase at a time.

First, Paul was given grace from God to preach the gospel of God (vv. 7-9).  “This gospel” that Paul refers to is the good news of Jesus’ death on the cross for people who were far from God.  “This gospel” has established one way for people to find peace with God, namely by trusting in the law-keeping life and sacrificial death of Jesus Christ.  “This gospel” has also established one new people of God made up of all peoples.  “This gospel” makes Jews and Gentiles into one body.  “This gospel” brings unclean Gentiles into the holy family of God, makes them citizens of God’s kingdom, and sharers of God’s promises.  “This gospel” was a mystery but has now been revealed.   

Verse 7 says that Paul “was made a minister of this gospel.”  This means that he was made a servant of the gospel of Christ.  He was called to serve the gospel.  His area of responsibility was the gospel.  He was duty-bound to guard it and proclaim it.  He was made a servant of the gospel in order to serve it to others.  If you serve as a waiter or waitress at a restaurant, your job is to serve other people on behalf of the restaurant.  Paul was chained to Christ (v. 1) and called to serve the gospel to people who needed Christ.

Verse 7 also tells us that Paul was made a servant because of the grace of God, “according to the gift of God’s grace.”  He says the same thing in verse 8, “this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.”  Paul was a servant of the gospel because of God’s goodness, not Paul’s goodness.  Paul says that he is “the very least of all the saints” (v. 8).  There is nothing in Paul that prompted God to give him grace.  He didn’t earn his job, he was given his job.  He didn’t deserve to be a servant of the gospel, he was allowed to be a servant of the gospel. 

In verses 7-8, Paul draws a contrast between his weakness, “very least of all the saints,” and God’s power, “which was given me by the working of his power.”  Paul was weak, God is strong.  The grace of God gave Paul an accurate view of himself.  Jesus’ appearance to him on the Damascus Road gave Paul excellent self-awareness.  After experiencing the glory and grace of Jesus, he realized how unworthy he was.  He never got over this (1 Tim. 1:12-15). 

Paul never recovered from his experience of Jesus’ grace.  The reason that many of us aren’t moved by God’s grace is because we believe things that aren’t true.  We believe that we’re basically good people.  We think that our small virtues compensate for our great vices.  We convince ourselves that we’re basically good people.  This is despite the pride, lust, anger, selfishness, and complacency that fills our hearts.  Despite the bad habits of drinking, gambling, pornography, lying, and gossiping that fills our lives.  We imagine that God is complacent about us, not really caring about the evil in our hearts or lives  J. I. Packer rightly says, “The thought of (ourselves) as creatures fallen from God’s image, rebels against God’s rule, guilty and unclean in God’s sight, fit only for God’s condemnation, never enters (our) head.”  We aren’t moved by grace like Paul because we aren’t honest with ourselves. 

Verses 8 and 9 tell us why Paul was given grace from God.  He was given grace from God to preach the gospel of God.  His message was “the unsearchable riches of Christ” and it was meant to “bring light to everyone” concerning what God had accomplished in Christ.  His message centered on the wealth of Jesus, the goodness and glory of Jesus.  Any gospel that doesn’t exalt the “riches of Christ” isn’t a biblical gospel. 

Notice that he was called by God to take the message of God to people far from God.  “This grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles” (v. 8).  Remember how bad the situation was for the Gentiles (2:11-12)?  They were separate and alien and strangers to God and his ways.  They lived with no hope because they lived without God.  But God gave Paul grace to take his grace to people far from him.  God is a missionary God.  He is in the business of going to people who’re from him.  The way he does it is by changing people’s lives by his grace and then sending them to people who’re far from him with the message of his grace. 

Who is he sending you to?  Who are you praying for to be saved?  Who do you need to share the gospel with this week?  Is God’s grace moving through you to others?  Are you praying for our church to be more faithful and fruitful in evangelism?  Are you praying for the two billion people in the world who haven’t heard the gospel yet?  Have you ever considered doing what you do in Dallas somewhere else in the world for the sake of those who’re far from God?  God’s grace turns us into God’s ambassadors for the sake of those far from God.          

Wisdom of God Revealed through the Church of God

Remember the summary of the passage: Paul was given grace from God to preach the gospel of God in order to reveal the wisdom of God through the church of God, thus fulfilling the eternal purpose of God in Jesus the Son of God who provides people access by faith into the presence of God.  The second phrase we’ll consider is: in order to reveal the wisdom of God through the church of God.  This is found in verse 10.

This is an awesome verse.  The “so that” at the beginning is massively important.  It’s a purpose clause.  Its Paul’s way of telling us why God did everything he just talked about.  He’s pulling back the curtain and allowing us to see into the mind of God.  He’s telling us why God gave him grace, why God made him a minister of the gospel, and why he preached the gospel to the Gentiles.  He’s saying, “God did all this, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.”

God gave Paul grace to preach the gospel to the Gentiles so that he could reveal his wisdom.  Notice that it’s “through the church” that God reveals his wisdom.  The church is God’s way of declaring his “manifold,” or multifaceted, wisdom.  The church is like a billboard declaring emphatically that “God is wise.” 

How does the church reveal God’s wisdom?  It reveals God’s wisdom because no one could’ve ever imagined how God would unite two hostile groups, Jews and Gentiles, into one organic body.  The Jews knew that God loved the nations, but they had no idea that their Messiah would suffer and die in order to bring filthy Gentiles into the family of God.  Nor could they imagine God establishing a way to have peace with him that wasn’t law-based.  The wisdom of God is revealed in that God makes believing Jews and Gentiles into one body through the gospel.

This truth applies to our lives in a couple ways.  First, a local church reveals the wisdom of God by pursuing genuine multi-ethnic community.  When the governing impulse that leads us to a church is the gospel of Jesus Christ, rather than the predominate skin color of people in the church, God’s wisdom is revealed.  When we establish genuine relationships with people from other ethnic groups in the church, God’s wisdom is revealed. 

And second, since the church reveals the character of God, we must look to the church – the community of saints, to shape and define who we are.  I’m not saying that we look to the church to save us or to give us our primary identity.  Jesus is the One we look to for that.  I am saying that we need to bring the church more into the center of who we are rather than seeing it as existing on the periphery. 

One indication that this isn’t happening in the American church as it should is how we tend to be more excited about politics than we are the work of Christ and his church.  The election of 2016 showed us that many Christians are looking to politics and politicians to find transcendent meaning and identity.  But it’s the church, not the government, that shapes and defines us.  Our “tribe” is the church of Jesus Christ, not the Republican or Democrat party.  Worldly “tribalism” makes us cling to people just like us.  But the gospel compels us to cling to people very different from us.  Al Mohler, President of Southern Seminary, rightly said last year that “Our political passions are too hot.  Our highs are too high and our lows are too low.  We need to make our passions faithful to Christ.”  When this happens, the wisdom of God is revealed in our churches.    

This is hard because it involves spiritual warfare.  Notice who God intends to reveal his wisdom through the church to.  These are the same “rulers and authorities” that Paul says we wrestle against (6:12).  When the church is united around the gospel despite ethnic and political and social and economic differences, the powers of hell see the wisdom of God.  The unity of a diverse church tells Satan and his demons that “God is wise.”  A unified and diverse church is God’s way of saying to the Devil, “I’m smarter than you.”   

Eternal Purpose of God in Jesus the Son of God

Remember the summary of the passage: Paul was given grace from God to preach the gospel of God in order to reveal the wisdom of God through the church of God, thus fulfilling the eternal purpose of God in Jesus the Son of God who provides people access by faith into the presence of God.  The third phrase of our summary is: thus fulfilling the eternal purpose of God in Jesus the Son of God (v. 11). 

The establishment of a multiethnic church was always God’s plan.  The plan has been fulfilled in and through Jesus Christ our Lord.  God’s plan to save Jews and Gentiles through Jesus goes back to before time (1:4-5).  Since his plan originated in eternity past, we can rest assured that the church isn’t God’s “plan B.”  The church isn’t God’s attempt to undue the failure of Israel.  The church was always God’s “plan A.”

Access by Faith into the Presence of God

The fourth and final phrase from our summary is: (Jesus) provides people access by faith into the presence of God (v. 12).  As the NIV puts it, “In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.”  When we place our trust in Jesus, we’re granted access into God’s presence.  Faith is the key that unlocks the door, if you will, to the VIP room.  But to be granted access we have to have the right credentials.  We don’t get to walk into God’s presence as we are.  We must have a “backstage pass.”  We must be clothed with the righteousness of Christ.  We must be wearing Jesus’ perfection if we want to get into the presence of God.

The reason this is so is because we’re born into sin.  We’ve rebelled against the holy God who made us.  We’ve broken his law.  One of his commands is that we “Honor our father and our mother” (Ex. 20:12).  None of us have done that perfectly, so God is just to punish us as law-breakers.  He’s even good to do so.  What kind of judge just lets criminals off the hook?  We’ve broken God’s law at every point, and so we deserve his just judgment. 

But God is a just and a merciful Judge.  He shows us his mercy by sending his Son Jesus to keep the law perfectly for us and to receive the penalty that every law-breaker deserves: death.  Jesus died in our place for our sin.  God’s love compelled him to give us what we could never deserve.  We’re the “least of all the saints” and yet God’s grace is displayed in the sending of his Son for us.  Everyone who places their trust in Jesus and turns away from their sin will be able to confidently enter into God’s presence.  They’ll be given forgiveness and freedom in Jesus’ name.

Jesus’ Family

Those who place their trust in Jesus are also given a new family.  Jesus brings us out of sin and brings us into a new family.  Some of us grew up in family situations that were less than ideal.  Some grew up without mom around.  Not having mom around can leave us feeling alone and afraid and empty.  It can make us feel like we don’t have a real family. 

In the Gospels, Jesus said that true family happens around him, not around mom or dad or brothers or sisters.  Matthew 12:46-50, “While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him.  But he replied to the man who told him, ‘Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?’  And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers!  For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.’”

Those who do the Father’s will by obeying the gospel and becoming a disciple of Jesus are brought into a family bigger and better than they ever imagined possible.  Those who trust in Jesus are part of Jesus’ family, no matter how messed up their family is.

Through the gospel, Jesus comes close to us and says that he’ll be for us all we ever wanted in a mom and more.  He cares for us, comforts us, provides for us, teaches us, encourage us, rebukes us, cleans us up, tells us to keep going, and loves us no matter what.  In Christ, the motherless and those who long to be mothers can find all that they’re longing for. 

In Christ, we can confidently enter God’s house and sit at his table.  As we do so with people from diverse backgrounds who’ve also trusted in Christ, we reveal the wisdom and glory of God to the powers of hell.  May God be pleased to make our church a billboard that declares to our neighborhood and to our city, to the world and to the devil, that “God is wise.”